South Dakota Peach Kuchen

German settlers brought the recipe for this tender coffee cake to the northern plains. The industrious pioneers changed up the taste by folding local fruits into the batter: apple, gooseberry, plum and even no-fruit cottage cheese. Here's our biscuitlike version with summery peaches. Serve it warm for breakfast or with ice cream for dessert.

Cincinnati-Style Chili

Locals spar over whether Skyline or Gold Star makes the better version (and whether the secret ingredients should be cinnamon, cocoa or allspice). Whichever, chili in the Queen City translates as a mild, meaty sauce served over spaghetti noodles and topped with shredded cheese.

North Dakota Juneberry Pie

Called the Blueberry of the Northern Plains, juneberries (also known as serviceberries) give bakers in North and South Dakota a reason to warm kitchens in summer. Pies featuring the berry bake a deep purply red and bring a nutty almond flavor to every fork full.

Beans and Ham Hocks

Kansas Zwiebach

When Mennonites came to Kansas, they brought their German language, Turkey Red wheat and the recipe for this addictive sweet, soft dinner roll with a doughy topknot. The secret to its rich taste and moistness: potato water, sugar, butter and egg. Don't confuse it with the tooth-breaking cracker of the same name.

Ozark Blackberry Cobbler

Pumpkin Gooey Butter Cake

The famous St. Louis dessert gets a makeover from Emily Hobbs of Springfield, Missouri. She adds pumpkin and pumpkin pie spice to the moist cake. The recipe was one of the finalists at Midwest Living's first Best of the Midwest cook-off.

Missouri Toasted Ravioli

Like many good legends, this one has a murky origin. Stories say a cook in St. Louis' Italian Hill neighborhood dropped cooked raviolis into hot fat. The world has been enjoying dropping the crispy appetizer into tomato sauce ever since.

Kansas City barbecue

Everyone raves about KC's 'cue, but do they mean Gates? Arthur Bryant's? Jack Stack? Don't worry about it. Just get there and start eating. Especially the burnt ends. Or try our Kansas City-inspired recipes.

Wisconsin Harvest Pie

This almond-kissed, fruit-packed pie comes from David Harper, of Richland Center, Wisconsin. He likes to serve it with a wedge of Wisconsin cheese, but it's just as good with vanilla ice cream or whipped cream! The recipe was a finalist in our annual recipe contest.

Breakfast Wild Rice

For a hearty breakfast, serve steaming wild rice topped with toasted pecans, maple syrup, milk or half-and-half, and a pat of melty butter. The recipe comes from The New Midwestern Table (clarksonpotter.com) by Minnesota chef Amy Thielen.

War Eagle Mill Buttermilk Biscuits

"My recipes are like my children. I'd hate to single one out as a favorite," says Zoe Caywood, who worked for many years as a miller at War Eagle Mill just east of Rogers, Arkansas. These biscuits are from one of Zoe's cookbooks. The recipe blends wheat and all-purpose flours for a fuller flavor than traditional biscuits.

Wild Rice with Hazelnuts and Blueberries

This pilaf-like side dish is inspired by the cuisine of the Ojibwe Native Americans who harvest naturally growing wild rice on the White Earth reservation in Minnesota. You can substitute other dried fruits and nuts if you like.

Lefse

Eat like a Norwegian! Lutheran church kitchens bustle at the holidays as parishioners mix potato, flour, butter and cream to create this Scandinavian tortilla. Eat it with a smear of butter and a sprinkle of sugar.

Dell's Branding Day Meat Loaf

Season ground beef with onion soup mix in this easy meat loaf. The recipe comes from South Dakota's Triangle Ranch B&B, where the ketchup-glazed meat loaf feeds crews hungry from long days in the corral.

Kansas Chicken-Fried Steak

This recipe was inspired by a favorite menu item at Pinky's Bar and Grill in Courtland, Kansas. Pounding tenderizes round steak, an economical cut of meat. After cooking the meat, reserve the pan drippings to make milk gravy to serve over the meat and, if you like, mashed potatoes.

Cincinnati's Sacred Heart Meatballs

Great food and warm fellowship infuse church suppers around the Midwest. Cincinnati's Sacred Heart Church is known especially for its meatballs, part of the church's traditional Italian suppers. Add these meatballs to your favorite pasta sauce, and serve over hot cooked noodles.

Triple-Tiered German Chocolate Cake

German chocolate cake is a staple on most restaurant menus in the northern Midwest, where German and Scandinavian immigrants settled. This recipe from Wisconsin is extra moist and chocolatey, with a rich coconut topping.

North Dakota chippers

Crisp Red River Valley potato chips dive into melted chocolate for a funky twist that nailed the sweet-salty taste long before it became a craze. Our recipe was inspired by chips from Widman's in Grand Forks, North Dakota.

Fresh cherries (and cherry pie)

Stop at a roadside farmstand for a basket or buy them in pie form. Tart, just-picked cherries are special within sight of the trees that nurtured them in Michigan's fruit-belt along Lake Michigan or in Door County, Wisconsin.

Beefy Chili Dogs

Here's a dinner kids and moms love! Kids for the flavor, moms because the franks and meaty filling cook together. If it's party or potluck fare, everything can sit for up to one hour on the low-heat setting.

Bun-Buster Tenderloin

You'll need two hands and a hearty appetite to tackle this king-size sandwich of battered and fried pork tenderloin. It's our version of the oversize deli tenderloin sandwiches popular in pork-producing states such as Iowa, Illinois and Indiana.

Easy Fry Bread

Fry bread is a Native American tradition, known throughout the tribes of South Dakota. Our recipe uses frozen dinner rolls, but for the authentic Lakota Sioux taste, you can order bread mix from woodenknife.com. Serve with savory taco meat sauce or a sweet cinnamon-sugar topping.

Rolled White Cookies and Sandbakkels

These recipes for Rolled White Cookies and Sandbakkels (Norwegian shortbread) both won prizes at Minnesota's Pennington County Fair. Traditional sandbakkels use a sandbakkel mold, available from specialty kitchen shops and online stores. Or you can substitute 1 3/4-inch tart tins or muffin cups.

Brats and Beer Cheddar Chowder

Midwest Living created this hearty chowder to salute the Badger State's German beer, bratwurst and cheese heritage. The tang of the beer and smokiness of the brats hold up to the bold cheddar and caraway.

Kringle

A classic almond filling rolled up in flaky Danish-style pastry brings honor to Racine as Kringle Capital of the World. New fillings like cheesecake, chocolate and Key lime add zing to the choices at shops such as O&H Danish Bakery (left).

Beer-Braised Brats

Steep your grilled brats in this onion-and-herb beer mixture for an easy way to keep them warm while entertaining. Beer-Braised Brats get a liberal dose of cranberry-pickle relish for extra color and tang. This is a Badger State meal in a bun.